For the Love of Air
by Aria6
Summary: Sequel to Spirit of Fire! Two altus ventus, the high winds, wonder if they are in love... and are going to seek out the terra flamma to find out if it can be true. Terra/Ventus, Axel/Roxas and eventually Sora/Riku. Enjoy!
1. Chapter 1

_In all aspects of the world, there are elementals._

_There are the undines of water, the sprites of fire, the gnomes of the earth and the sylphs of air. From these basic classes spring all the other elementals. And for each of these, there are the greater elementals. Almost impossible to control and difficult to approach, they are the terra flamma, the aqua flamma, the magnus terra…_

_And the altus ventus. The greatest of the sylphs, they are the elementals of the high winds. They soar across the roof of the world, and they are unlike most air elementals. Sylphs are known for their changeability and lack of attention span, but the altus ventus are completely different. They are as cold as the roof of the world, calculating, with a memory as flawless as a terra flamma. The lesser winds are unpredictable, but never the high winds. They follow patterns as old as time… patterns that can change, but only with ruinous cost. The wrath of the terra flamma can sink a continent. The wrath of the altus ventus could ruin it just as easily for mere mortals… a single shift in the currents of the wind, and a paradise could become a desert. Or a desert could become a paradise._

_Elementals speak to each other. It takes time for information to travel… an unconscionably long time, by human standards… but it does travel. The aqua flamma arise from where molten metal meets water, in the raging deeps, so they do speak to the terra flamma, the spirits of the core. In turn, the aqua flamma consort with the great spirits of the sea… the atrox aqua, the leviathans of the deeps. They in turn speak to their lesser cousins, the undines and the naiads. Who in turn speak to the sylphs, as water joins with air to give arise to clouds and the aero aqua, the great spirits of weather and storms._

_And so the knowledge goes, passed from hand to hand until it eventually reaches even the roof of the world. The place where the great currents of air move in the merciless rhythm of time. Most of the altus ventus did not care about the curious doings of two terra flamma. The high winds have no connection to the burning earth._

_But not all of the altus ventus were indifferent. Two of their kind had always been odd. Flying in tandem, they had followed each other for centuries without knowing why. It was simply what they did. Often merging with each other, until they were never quite apart, they had never found words for what they felt to each other. Now, suddenly, it had been given a name._

_Was this love? Confused, they tried to think of what to do, if anything. They could not go to the core to speak to the terra flamma. But the two terra flamma were said to not be in the core anyway… they had chosen to go venturing in the land of mortals again. Could they be found? And to what purpose? To confirm that what they felt for each other was… love?_

_For a long time they followed the paths of the winds, and quietly debated. And finally, they began to dip, leaving behind the great, cold winds for the warmer, weaker air of the land._

_They needed to know. Needed to know if what they felt was… love._

* * *

"Terra?"

"Ventus." Terra blinked his golden eyes slowly, pushing himself to his feet. It felt odd, having feet after so long. He ran a hand through his hair and found the same brown, bristly spikes he'd had so long ago. How long had it been? His memory was perfect. After a moment of contemplation, he knew it had been thirty five thousand, six hundred and fifty eight revolutions of the sun. A fairly long time, as humans thought of things.

To him, it wasn't long at all. Terra was the oldest altus ventus in existence. If he tried, he could recall when the world had been different. He had been born when terra flamma had danced on the surface of the world, before the great fires had sunk to the core and the land solidified into true earth. It had been a dangerous time. Many of his kind had become lost, drifting into the eternal dark as the air struggled to find its place in the world. Things were very safe now, compared to that time. Only an utter fool would be whisked into that void.

Of course, utter fools still existed, even among the altus ventus. Or perhaps they just got tired and didn't want to exist anymore… and that was the reason Ventus existed. Terra was the oldest and Ventus was the youngest. He had been created only a thousand odd years ago, to take the place of an altus ventus who had strayed into the void and been shredded. That made him absurdly young by any elemental standards. By pure chance, Terra had happened to witness his creation. It had been… awe inspiring. He'd never seen it before, in all his years. It was simply too rare. It made him wonder… was he meant to see it? Because somehow, it felt like a connection had been forged between him and Ventus at that moment.

There had been no words, no discussion. Terra had sent the child a welcome, and the child had followed him. Soon, he had named himself… with no great originality, but Ventus was still a pretty name. It was better than Terra. He had named himself long before anything resembling humans existed, and it was an irritation to him that humans had settled on his name to describe the opposite element of earth.

Terra examined Ventus curiously. This was the first time the younger altus ventus had assumed a human form, and he was clearly having problems with it. Terra caught his arm as he swayed, blinking rapidly at the unfamiliar sensation of having feet, legs and arms. Terra could recall the first time he had assumed a corporeal form… that of a great lizard. It had been uncomfortable. Ventus had taken a rather nice human form, he thought. Spiky blond hair and big blue eyes… and…

"You should try to make yourself some clothes." Terra said with a faint smile. He liked the view… he was no stranger to human sex… but other humans would certainly take a dim view of it. Ventus frowned, concentrating, and soon he was wearing a rather creative set of clothes. Terra tilted his head thoughtfully, wondering what sylph had described them to him… and if they were at all current. But he liked the pants and the chains, the pretty white vest over a black shirt… it definitely looked good on Ven.

"This feels so odd…" Ven murmured softly, slowly taking his first steps. It didn't take him long to adapt and soon he was walking freely. "It's… rather nice though. Different." Terra nodded. He understood exactly what Ven meant. Logically, it made no sense that the greater elementals… great diffuse beings of energy… would enjoy taking on a physical form. But when they finally tried it, they often did. Not as much as their true forms, but enough to do it occasionally just for fun.

"We should get to work trying to question the sylphs." Terra remarked, and Ventus made a theatrical gagging sound. Terra sighed… Ven was catching onto his human body quickly.

Unfortunately, he was making a good point. Questioning sylphs was a bit like trying to cram toothpaste back into the tube. It could be done, but only messily and with ruinous effort. Sylphs knew everything and were always willing to share it… and the lesser air spirits had absolutely no sense of time, coupled with the attention span of a gnat. Ultimately, sylphs knew everything because air was everywhere… but running down the sylph who actually knew what you wanted to know and actually making it realize what was important was difficult, to say the least. As altus ventus, Terra and Ventus would be able to get willing cooperation from the sylphs… but they would have to sort through a ton of rubbish to find out anything useful.

"We can try to question the humans and fire sprites at the same time." Terra amended. Working with humans might ultimately be better than working with the sylphs, although it would no doubt be just as frustrating in completely different ways. The sprites might speak to them, but probably wouldn't know much. The gnomes would likely know much more… earth was everywhere, and a terra flamma's nature was heavily of earth… but they would never speak to the altus ventus. Ventus sighed and shrugged.

"Let's go, then." And they began walked towards the closest human settlement, a very large city. Terra smiled as they walked, glancing around. He liked the surface world. It was always so… interesting.

* * *

"Wow!" Ventus gaped at the city, and Terra had to admit, if only to himself, that it was impressive.

Things had changed considerably since the last time he had walked among mortals. Terra had known that… but he hadn't _known_ it, deep in his heart. The sylphs had told the altus ventus how the humans had suddenly made rapid progress in the last hundred years. The composition of even the upper air had altered a little because of it, but it was hardly the first time that had happened. Terra could remember six distinct times that had happened, and humanity had nothing to do with those occurrences.

Still, knowing that humanity had graduated from copper weapons and linen kilts to… this, was still something of a shock to Terra. To him, it seemed like the change had occurred overnight. Noisy vehicles were clattering through the streets, although many more were pulled by horses. Gas lamps lit the corners, and Terra paused to make a quick greeting to a fire sprite in the tongue of air, a whistling, sibilant sound. It responded politely in the tongue of fire. All elementals could understand each other, although only the ones that spanned different natures could speak more than one tongue. Aqua flamma could speak fire and water, for instance.

Terra quickly realized they were standing out, and didn't like it. He didn't fear humans, but he maintained a cautious respect for them. They had souls where he and Ventus didn't, and vastly outnumbered them. Wizards had bound a terra flamma… there were always lunatics in the world, and Terra wouldn't put it past someone to try to duplicate the feat on an altus ventus. And then they would have to level the city, and he really didn't want to do that. He rather admired mortals, in a lot of ways.

Suddenly, Terra realized that Ventus wasn't at his side anymore. He cursed to himself in the language of air… if they had been in their real forms he would have known instantly, but human bodies had a few distinct disadvantages. Quickly retracing his steps, he heard Ventus' voice raised in irritation.

"…I don't know what this money is that you want. And what were you trying to do to me? It felt weird." Ventus was standing in an alleyway, facing a… what? Terra's eyes narrowed. At first he thought it was a young girl from the dress, but sylphs of all sorts were extremely perceptive and hard to fool. So he quickly realized it was actually a young boy with spiky brown hair, covered by a wig and wearing a dress. The blue eyes were natural but everything else was sheer artifice. And Ventus could sense the bruises and marks under the dress. He could also sense the much larger man further back in the alley.

"Ventus!" Terra stepped up behind him and favored the boy with a look that made him step back, fear flicking through those big blue eyes. And the man in the back moved forward. Terra looked at him, golden eyes cold as the roof of the world, but the man stared back, completely insensate. Terra sighed to himself as he realized the man was bigger than he was. He looked like a gorilla, in fact, and Terra didn't doubt that his physical strength had given the man delusions of power.

Delusions that were about to be rudely shattered, if he was any judge. But he'd give the man a few chances first.

"Just pay up." The man demanded, his voice low and gravelly. Ventus just looked vexed, not understanding what was happening at all. Terra sneered.

"For a random groping? I think not. Walk away, little man, or you'll badly regret it." Terra met the man's eyes, and most people would have looked away from that inhuman regard. But not this man. He didn't even seem to notice that there was anything unusual about Terra. _Some people are simply too stupid to live._

"I don't think so." And he pulled out a pistol. It was a great, clumsy thing, but it could certainly kill a human. "You pay up now, or else. No one gets a freebie from my bitch." Terra glanced at the boy, who was starting to look terrified. He knew something was wrong with the people his companion was menacing.

"My friend, since you can't possibly know what I am, I'll give you another warning." Terra said softly. "You have one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel. Take your bitch and go, and I will do you the favor of pretending this never happened." The man snarled in rage and pulled the trigger. There was a great flash of light, the stench of gunpowder… and Terra tilted his head, glancing down at the hole in his chest. Air swirled as his body reformed instantly. Unless they were fortified with magic, mortal weapons simply couldn't harm a greater elemental. Certainly not the altus ventus, who were by nature less physical than any other elementals.

"You lost this." Terra said conversationally as the man stared, then spat the bullet back at him. It hit him in the face with all the speed and force of the altus ventus behind it, and his head exploded in a gory mess. Terra created a wind gust so the pumping blood wouldn't splatter them. The boy wasn't so lucky, and made a small scream as blood splattered his gown before the body collapsed.

"Wha… h-how… how…" The boy stared at the corpse, pale as death, then looked up and met Terra's gaze. "No! Please I… I didn't mean… I'm sorry…!" Terra just looked at him a moment, then shrugged, turning away. "No, wait…!" That was unexpected. Terra turned back as Ventus knelt beside the body, examining it curious.

"What? …Ventus, what are you doing?" Terra asked as the other altus ventus touched the blood, then cautiously licked his finger.

"I wanted to know what it tastes like." The blond haired boy considered it a moment, then spat. "Tastes like… earth." The boy stared at Ventus, appalled, but then gathered his courage and looked at Terra.

"Please, take me with you…" Terra's eyebrows shot up at that request. The boy wanted to come with them after what he had just seen? "You… you killed my protector… you owe me a place…!" The boy sounded desperate. Terra regarded him thoughtfully. "I'll do anything…" The boy stepped close, eyes wide and lips innocently parted. He really did make a pretty girl, if you couldn't perceive the make up… and the bruises beneath it. And what he was doing with his hands was interesting.

"Terra, that's what he did to me, what is it?" Ventus sounded curious, and Terra laughed softly.

"He's offering us his sexual services." Ven frowned, not necessarily liking that, but Terra examined the boy a moment longer, considering it.

He was not unfamiliar with this sort of thing. In fact, it was very familiar… some aspects of human behavior hadn't changed in the least in thirty thousand years. And Terra had lived among humans for almost five thousand years, back then. Part of the time he'd been worshipped as a god and had enjoyed numerous concubines. He wasn't interested in revisiting that time… having his every whim catered to had gotten strangely irritating after a few centuries… but he wasn't repulsed by the offer.

In fact… it would have distinct advantages. His knowledge of humans was dated and Ventus' was nonexistent. This boy could be very helpful if he was at all intelligent. That decided him.

"Very well. We do not have a place to stay at the moment… do you have something?" The boy nodded, swallowing. "Take us there." Terra didn't imagine it would be very nice, but it would be free. Ah, that reminded him…

"Now what are you doing?" Ventus questioned as Terra searched the body.

"Taking his money. First rule of being human… when you kill someone, loot the body." Ventus nodded. "They always have something useful. Now, let's go." He was interested in exploring the boy… although not nearly as much as he was looking forward to touching Ventus.

Being with Ventus was better than being with anyone else.

* * *

Axel leaned against the windowsill, looking out over the town.

It had been only a tiny village when he and Roxas had first arrived, but it had grown considerably since then. They had been here for almost three hundred years, and in the last hundred changes had come at a dizzying pace. Axel was aware of how quickly things could change for mortals, but it was still almost awe inspiring to see. Roxas was still a little shell-shocked by it.

Technology had taken off in the last hundred years. Horseless carriages were the main sign of it, but there were also steel locomotives and guns widely available as well. Rifles had become not just toys, but actual, functional weapons. Although the reloading was quite slow, slow enough that swords were still in demand. Axel thought that would change. Things were progressing very fast by any standards.

Amazingly, the changes in the mortal world had caused changes in the elemental one. New elementals called _gremlins_ had begun to appear. Some were of metal and fire, like the gremlins of the locomotives and carriages, but the ones born of electricity seemed to be of earth and air. Very few earth and air elementals existed… mostly the dust devils and the extremely rare morbus ventis, the plague winds. It was astonishing, that humans were creating elementals with their works. But in the end, mortals were greater than even the greatest elemental…

Axel shook his head, chasing the thought away. He didn't like to contemplate it… it made him think about Roxas and the sacrifice he had made to stay with him. The brilliant change in front of him brought home that it had been a sacrifice. Roxas should have been part of it, part of the ongoing change of humanity, and he never would be again.

"Are you thinking again?" Axel felt a finger poke him in the shoulder and looked down to see Roxas' smiling face. "Have you forgotten what we're doing today?"

"Hardly!" Axel's heart warmed, and he smiled back, giving Roxas a quick kiss. "I was just waiting for you."

They had plans for today. Not really stunningly good plans, but plans. They lived about a half hour walk from the town and were planning to head in. When they got there, they would go to a bookstore and pick up some really good books and more art supplies for Roxas. Then they would get some coffee and sweets. And then, they would go to the meditation gardens and read, sip and draw for the rest of the day. And chat, of course. They had done it plenty of times before and would do it again.

"Oh wow Axel, look at these!" Axel looked over at Roxas, and tilted his head at what he had found. They were in the art and bookstore, and he'd found something really unusual in the art supplies. Pastels with beautifully saturated, rich colors, Axel hadn't seen anything like them here before.

"Very nice." Axel smiled… he had no gift for art at all, his efforts looked like children's drawings, but he liked watching Roxas at work. "Maybe get some Bristol board to go with that?" Roxas laughed and picked out some smaller boards. He had bigger ones at home, as well as an easel, but he hadn't brought them today. Axel grinned and bought two books… one a spy novel and the other a fantasy about elemental magic and a young wizard. No doubt the second would be absolute tosh, but it was always fun to ridicule the author with Roxas.

As they walked through the town, many people greeted them… but just as many turned away. There had been no way to conceal their nature from the townsfolk, so they hadn't tried. When the town was small, they had been very welcome. As it had grown larger, though, things had changed. The worship of Gaia was very strong here, largely due to their presence, but the Church of the One God had been growing in popularity for hundreds of years. And they regarded Gaia worshippers as infidels. In other places, the worship of Gaia had almost been stomped out… this medium sized town was the last stronghold of it, and Axel knew that made some people froth at the mouth.

Axel frowned a little as he thought about it. They'd never meant for it to happen, but somehow he and Roxas had ended up defending the worship of Gaia here. They had already incinerated several people over it, including a few church wizards who had been trying to bind them. They had been tempted to just leave, but too many of the people in the town… people they liked and respected… had begged them to stay. But a sizeable part of the town worshipped the One God and they were cold at best. Axel had no idea how the situation would turn out, but it made him uneasy on so many levels.

As always, he decided to not think about it. The future would be what it would be. With the power of earth, he could sometimes have insight into the future, but right now he was getting a big flat nothing. He and Roxas would just have to be vigilant in making sure no one was trying to siphon off their energy. Fortunately, it wasn't hard to detect that if you knew it was possible. Axel had been completely ignorant the first time and had suffered for it.

The meditation gardens were beautiful in the summer sun. Axel smiled as he took a seat on one of the benches, enjoying the heat of the sun and the babbling of a stream nearby. An undine giggled at him and whispered a greeting in the language of water, and Axel returned it with the language of earth. Roxas looked up at the low, grumbling syllables and smiled as he spotted the undine. It was a tiny, female little sprite with bright green hair, huge eyes and a sassy smile. It giggled again and ducked beneath the water, swimming away.

"Cute." Roxas said with a smile. Water was the opposing element, but earth and water had a connection and their nature was partly earth. And over the years, Axel had discovered that one of the changes in him was an enhanced connection to earth at the price of fire… but ultimately, that only made him more powerful. So the undines had begun speaking to him, although they wouldn't talk to Roxas.

"Definitely." Axel agreed and began reading the book about elemental magic as Roxas began drawing the stream… with the undine in the picture, although she had already swam away. "Hm, curious. This is about two altus ventus searching for love in all the wrong places and finally finding it in each other." Axel smiled, amused. "I wonder why the author picked the altus ventus?" Those elementals were well known for being as cold as their home in the roof of the world. It was very odd, thinking of them falling in love.

"There's probably a reason in the story. At least it's new." Roxas said optimistically as his picture began to take shape.

"That's true." Stories about the elements of fire had gotten a bit too common, once word got around about the two of them. Axel smiled, watching Roxas for a moment before sipping his coffee and going back to the story.

It was actually rather good. He thought he would enjoy it.


	2. Author's Note

Author's Note:

Anyone viewing this for the first time will notice that only the first chapter remains. I kept that because I like looking at reviews. *cuddles* BUT! This fic and all the original ideas behind it are moving into the realm of actually trying to get published as an original work. So I am removing the contect from . If any of you desperately want it, send me a message and I'll see what I can do. Lots of love and thank you very much!


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